With the development of technology, the music industry has evolved into a digital era. New products such as streaming services are already widespread among the world. As technology continues to play a bigger role in the music industry, a controversial issue has been whether technology is benefiting the music industry.
Over the past decade, streaming medias has grown rapidly, and it is now the primary way people listen to music. According to “Recorded Music Revenue Is up on Streaming Growth, as Physical Sales Plummet” by Brian Heater, streaming media now accounts for 85% of the US music market revenue, whereas the physical sales that dominated the market previously account for only 7%. Indeed, streaming services offered people a very convenient way to listen to music. Take Spotify, a popular streaming media nowadays, as an example, its many novel designs and functions make it more than a simple music app. In an op-ed “How Spotify Became the Cornerstone of Music Streaming”, Ali Colwell talks about what made streaming services such as Spotify stood out. Spotify contains about 35 million songs, which means that users can find almost all the songs they want to listen to in a single app. At the same time, it also has various rankings, allowing users to easily find popular songs in different areas. Moreover, it will customize the weekly playlist according to the songs that users have played, helping users find more good songs that meet their musical tastes.
Spotify's community building function also allows users to access each other's playlists. If the user finds another person has the similar music taste, he or she can find more songs he likes by adding that person's playlist. The algorithm that can lead users to new songs really enhanced the user experience.
Finally, streaming media software can be played anywhere. Compared to CDs, which have to be played on a specific device, people can play music in streaming platforms on mobile phones, computers, TVs, stereos, as long as the app is downloaded, users can enjoy music anytime, anywhere.
However, some believe that streaming media made users to form bad listening habits. In Darren Hemmings’s op-ed, "Music streaming services are gaslighting us", he thinks that compared to people going to the store to buy an album in the past, streaming media is like smashing tens of thousands of albums at a very low price to the buyers, which is very overwhelming. In this way, consumers don't have enough time to listen to each song well, and they are likely to switch to the next song when they only listen to a song for a few seconds. In response to this kind of listening habit, the songs that have been created have become more and more superficial, because composers hope to use the melody to catch the listeners in a short time, rather than using the rich meaning and emotion, and delicate lyrics of the song to attract the listeners, which should be the true meaning of a song. Moreover, from the perspective of a musician, a song needs to be played millions of times on streaming media to bring enough income, which is very unfriendly to indie musicians and new artists. Josh Edelson also criticized streaming services as separating people by switching collective listening to individual playlists in his op-ed, “Music is supposed to unify us. Is the streaming revolution fragmenting us instead?”.
Another technology that has the potential to change the music industry is blockchain. In Ilker Koksal’s op-ed, "How Blockchain Is About To Change The Music Industry", he explained how blockchain promotes the collaboration of artists. On a platform built on blockchain technology, musicians can find partners, and composers, lyricists, producers, and engineers from all over the world can have the opportunity to make songs together. New artists can also have the opportunity to cooperate with professional artists, having more chance to learn and develop. Gareth Emery also explains the benefit of a blockchain music producing platform in an interview about the future of music streaming. Without other parties, such as a label or a streaming platform, involved in the selling of songs, musicians can receive more revenue, and revenue distributions on a daily basis made things much less complicated. António Madeira also admits this in his op-ed, “Blockchain to Disrupt Music Industry and Make It Change Tune”, by suggesting that these platforms remove the domination of many streaming platforms, and empower the artists.
In another op-ed, “5G Is Coming: So What Does This Mean for Music (If Anything)?”, the author suggests that 5G technology will make virtual reality and augmented reality concerts more immersive. In another op-ed, “Is the Music Industry Ready for 5G? Embracing the Future of Music Beyond Streaming”, the author holds similar opinion and further suggests that 5G will bring remote collaboration to a new level, by improved internet speed for rehearsal and composing.
Technology will inevitably play a greater role in the music industry, and the debate about whether technology benefits the music industry will continue. Things always have two sides. Technology will bring convenience to the production, sale, and consumption of music, but at the same time it will definitely have its problems. What people have to do is to explore the potential of technology and use it to explore more possibilities to the music industry.